2. 9. 2016

Issue of the commemorative souvenir sheet: NATURE PROTECTION: ZOOLOGICAL GARDENS IOn the 7th September, 2016 the Ministry of Industry and Trade of the Czech Republic will issue a commemorative souvenir sheet “Nature protection – Zoological Gardens I” with 4 stamps and 2 coupons.Postage stamps: 1. 16 CZK – ZOO Jihlava - snow leopards with their offspring2. 20 CZK – ZOO Olomouc - a pair of Barbary lions with babies and an outline of a herd of antelopes – South African oryxes in the background3. 24 CZK – ZOO Dvůr Králové - a rare black rhino with a baby and a couple of hyena dogs in the front4. 27 CZK – ZOO Prague - a herd of Przewalski’s horse with cubsOn two coupons and edges of the souvenir sheet are depicted other rare sorts of animals living in our prominent zoological gardens.The existence of the best known Czech zoological garden in Prague was marked by Czechoslovak, and later on Czech Post on several occasions, most recently in 2001 when the garden celebrated the 70th anniversary of its creation. This new miniature sheet gives an opportunity to introduce themselves also to other major zoos in the Czech Republic – ZOO Jihlava, ZOO Dvůr Králové and ZOO Olomouc. The stamp with the highest face value of CZK 27 depicts a herd of Przewalski’s horse, which is the emblematic species of Prague Zoo. Last year, the zoo was declared the fourth best zoo in the world by the largest travel site TripAdvisor, based on the opinions of hundreds of thousands of its regular users. Prague Zoo found its way into the world elite in 2007 when the famous economic magazine Forbes ranked it as the seventh best zoological garden in the world. In 2016, Prague Zoo will celebrate the 85th anniversary of its creation.The next, CZK 24 stamp presents the second largest Czech Zoo in Dvůr Králové, famous for the first African safari park in the country. This focus on African animals was the brainchild of Josef Vágner, the zoo’s director between 1965 and 1983 who organised several expeditions to Africa, resulting in many animals, especially ungulates, being brought into the collection. The stamp portrays a rare black rhino with a baby and a couple of hyena dogs in the front. In 2016, Dvůr Králové Zoo will celebrate the 70th anniversary of its creation.The CZK 20 stamp is dedicated to Olomouc Zoo. It is located in a beautiful forested landscape at the foothills of the Lower Jeseník mountains. The stamp shows a pair of Barbary lions with babies and an outline of a herd of antelopes - South African oryxes in the background. The zoo keeps the largest herd of these ungulates in the Czech Republic.The zoo managed to breed the Amur leopard. There are only several Amur leopards in the wild today. The zoo was opened to the public in 1956 and in 2016, it will celebrate the 60th anniversary of its creation. The last, CZK 16 stamp presents Jihlava Zoo. This garden is located at a place close to the city centre, and yet it contains forested hillsides, meadows, rocks and water areas surrounding the small river weaving through the zoo. The zoo is the home of over 200 exotic species of animals, with a special focus on apes and felines, including snow leopard portrayed on the stamp. The zoo managed to repeatedly reproduce this rare species, also called irbis. The stamp shows a pair of leopards with their offspring. Jihlava Zoo keeps the largest collection of South American marmosets in the Czech RepublicThe authors of the design of the issue are ac. painters and graphic artists Libuše and Jaromír Knotek, the engravings of the sheet and of the FDC are the work of the graphic artist and engraver Martin Srb.The souvenir sheets with stamps, sized 40 x 50 mm and coupons sized 40 x 23 mm have been printed by the Post Printing House in Prague by coloured offset combined with black engraving. There will be 4 First Day Covers incl. commemorative cancellations. On the cover with the 16 CZK stamp (1) are depicted the South American marmosets, the cover with the 20 CZK stamp (2) shows the Amur leopards, on the one with 24 CZK stamp (3) is depicted the rarest and critically endangered mammal in the world, the northern white rhino with a baby born in Zoo Dvůr Králové in 2000. It was a huge event and the baby rhino was called “the Baby of the Millennium”. On the cover with the 27 CZK (4) is a lowland gorilla, probably the best known species kept in Prague Zoo thanks to the media attention given to the birth of female gorilla Moja (Moya) in 2004.It was the first baby gorilla born in the Czech Republic. The covers are printed by the recess print from flat plates. The motif of the handstamp are side views of: 1) the head of a snow leopard and the text: Jihlava -, 7.9.2016 - to the 16 CZK stamp, 2) the head of South African oryx and the text: Olomouc, 7.9.2016 to the 20 CZK stamp, 3) the head of a black rhino and the text: Dvůr Králové, 7.9.2016 to the 24 CZK stamp and 4) the head of Przewalski´s horse and the text: Praha, 7.9.2016 to the 27 CZK stamp.The stamps are valid from 7th September, 2016.On the 7th September, 2016 also 4 Cartes maximum with pictures of animals of these four ZOO´s will be issued to complete this issue.Czech Post--

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